Beauty and the Beast
by christmaswolf
Summary: In a little town by the road thrives a circus unlike any John's ever seen. Runawaystuck AU, slash, critiques welcome.
1. Chapter 1

AU: Runawaystuck  
>Disclaimer: is dumb. But anyway, yeah, not mine, Hussie, blah blah bluh.<p>

* * *

><p>The main roads were the same as always, full of people and cars. Such a convenient invention, cars. Pity they were so expensive. This thought ran through John Egbert's mind as he made his way down the sidewalk, combing the city for a job. Standing at nearly nineteen-years-old, he was a rather tall individual in dire need of money. Why he did not have money from his parents was a matter that he would not share for a while.<p>

So caught up in his thoughts, he did not notice the person coming right to him until they collided in a matter most unpleasant and rather painful.

"Sorry!" He exclaimed, giving the individual an apologetic glance. They just sneered back. He was yet again swept up by his ever-present daydreaming, that time about how rude some people are.

He walked without paying attention to exactly where he was going, his thoughts fluctuating from the behaviour of people to the daily attire of said people to something odd about ponies he'd rather not reflect on.

It was not until he collided face-first with it did he notice the large gateway blocking his path.

"What..." He rubbed his nose in surprise as he scanned his surroundings.

He had long since left town, and was now facing a large castle lying on the outskirts of said town. The gates were old and rusty, no lock keeping them together like he'd expect. The walk to the castle itself was very long, making it very overdramatic and quite ridiculous. As for the castle, it was, for lack of a better word, gigantic. The tips seemed to reach heaven, even though the castle itself looked like it was taken straight from hell. Most of it was in shadow, and it looked haunted. This was not a pleasant castle.

With one final glance, John walked away from the castle and down the road the other way.

He walked for about half an hour, or what he judged was half an hour, for he had no pocket watch on him. A group of younger teenagers began to mock and throw things at him for his 'unmanly' looks, but he ignored it, fighting with children being the last thing he wanted to do. He'd always been a nice person. Thoughts once again began churning in his head, mainly about why these children were not home at such a dark hour.

He saw the lights before the village. Yet instead of a village, he was greeted with a circus, surprising him. He'd been this way before. Surely there was never a circus here before...was there? He approached this new site warily. One simply does not barge right into the unknown without observing first. While he peeked around a tent, checking to see if he had been seen, he nearly jumped out of his skin when a voice sounded sharply behind him.

"Hey! What are you doing here?" A black-haired girl with peculiar red glasses stared down at him. He spoke while attempting to calm his breathing, fixing his crooked cap.

"I-I'm sorry, I was just looking around-"

"It costs money, you know. The circus." She interrupted him, holding out her hand with a rather large grin.

"I've, uh," he turned out his pockets, "got none."

She seemed to think this over, placing one hand on her waist and another by her chin, her index finger and thumb framing it.

"Got any red chalk?" She asked suddenly, grinning.

John looked at her in bewilderment. _Such a random question,_ he thought. Why on Earth would he have chalk? It was then that he remembered he had picked up something the children threw at him, and in his hand was, in fact, red chalk. _How strange..._

"Why, yes, I do," The astonished look did not leave his face, even after he handed her the chalk.

"Thank you. You're free to go." She snickered, tossing a ticket to him. As he started to walk away, he took a look back at the odd woman, just in time to see her take a big bite out of the chalk. His eyes widened at the sight. _Such a weird person!_

He did like abnormal people, though. They were interesting. He really wished he would've gotten her name. _Maybe she is part of the circus? What is the name of the circus? How many people are in the circus? Oh jeez, I'm rambling again..._

He passed by more strange people; a very tall and very intimidating clown on a unicycle juggling clubs, a boy with a strange streak of purple in his hair and a girl with some type of glasses floating in a pool of water (_Are those _gills_?_), and a very muscular man bending different types of metal while a very cat-like girl babbles on about something to him; before he just decided to stop and try to ask someone what he was doing and what he had a ticket for.

"You! What are you doing here?" An angry voice called. John searched around for the voice, eventually discovering it came from the short man he had bumped into earlier. "This is backstage, no fucking guests allowed! Also, you're an ass." He added. He sure had a mouth on him.

"I'm sorry?" He meant to state it, but it came out as a question. "I mean, I'm sorry for earlier, bumping into you like that," He rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Yeah, you should be! I could've died or something," He grimaced.

_I highly doubt that._ John's mouth went crooked in disbelief.

"Wipe that stupid expression off your dumb face. Why are you back here?" He sighed, his patience obviously wearing thin.

"Well, I was hoping you could tell me-"

"Why the fuck would I know?" He interrupted him, with an angry questioning tone to his voice. _What is with everyone interrupting me today?_

"Well, I got this ticket from someone with red glasses, and I don't know where to go..." The man sighed in exasperation. "What?" John cocked his head slightly.

"I told her to report wanderers to me! God damn her, I swear, she does this just to anger me..." He walked away mumbling before John could ask him a thing. He scratched his head and sighed, attempting to ask others before giving up and slumping in the grass next to a tent, resting his head and arms on his knees.

"Something wrong?" A bubbly voice greeted him.

He looked up to see a girl with dog ears smiling down at him. _Wait...dog ears?_ He couldn't help but stare, even though it's rude. Her smile never wavered, just simply pulling a hand up to point to them, like she was used to it.

"Accident." She giggled.

"O-oh, alright," he giggled nervously to himself, as unmanly as that sounds, "um, where am I supposed to-" He halted as she placed her fingertips on his face.

"You're so pretty..." She said in awe. _Not this again,_ he sighed.

"Thank you. Now-"

"How could you possibly be so pretty? I wish I was that pretty!" She sighed loudly. "It's okay, though! It's not like I'm ugly, right?" She smiled.

"No, of course not! You're beautiful," he reassured her quickly. She was indeed pretty, albeit a little different looking, what with her ears.

"Thank you. That means a lot." She pinched his cheeks for good measure before standing back up, her long hair ending just under her tush, he observed. Not that he was observing her in a sexual way, definitely not. That was rude and inappropriate to do to a lady.

"Can you tell me where to go?" He asked quickly before she could get a word in, standing up next to her.

"Go wherever your heart leads you," she sighed. He looked at her strangely. "Hee hee, just kidding! What do you mean?"

He held up the ticket.

"Oh!" She placed a hand over her mouth in overdramatic surprise. "This way!" She took his hand and led him to the large tent. _Finally, someone is helping!_

The interior of the tent was extraordinary. Brilliantly coloured trapezes hung from the top (without a safety net at the bottom, he noticed), large balls were being rolled about (with the clown he saw from earlier walking on one), a few female aerial contortionists practising with their richly coloured silks, and more people were setting up other decorations and ribbons around the set. The stands surrounded the entire middle, none of which were filled.

"You can just sit wherever you like, as long as it's in the stands. Wow, are you early or what?" She giggled yet again, waiting until he sat down to say her goodbyes and leave.

It wasn't long until he got bored and got up again. Now that he knew where to go, there was no harm in looking around a bit more, was there? He dug his hands into his pockets and headed for the door...

And smacked into someone yet again.

He really should watch where he was going.

"I'm sorry!" He shouted, scrambling a bit comically to get back on his feet, then holding a hand out to help the other person up.

What grabbed his hand was not a hand, but a feathered...thing.

It took all his willpower not to recoil with a gasp.

He looked up at the person, finding it to be a male around his age (_then again, everyone here is_), and a little taller. The man had strikingly red eyes, blonde hair, and a little black nose that John couldn't help but think was adorable (_in the platonic way, of course_). Feathered black wings; not to big, not to small; framed his figure. He wore no shirt, just long red shorts. _Heh, oxymoron._ His arms and legs were feathered black; his hands better looking than his feet by a long shot.

He was brilliant.

"Who are you?" John asked after a long silence.

The bird-man's response was a shake of his head and he silently brushed past him.


	2. Chapter 2

I am no good at writing a circus, I apologise. On another note, they will use modern speech while talking, since I am completely useless at writing dialogue from the 1920s.

* * *

><p>The circus was magnificent, to say the least.<p>

The man John had seen earlier who was bending metal - _The Magnificent Equius_ - lifted so many items at once, John was afraid that he would lift the entire circus off the ground. But, of course, no such event occured.

After _The Magnificent Equius_ came many more wonderful acts, including a man with strange dual-coloured glasses lifting a woman into the air using just his mind (John sensed tomfoolery, but he had a shocking lack of evidence to uphold his claim with), Jade's (as he later discovered her name to be) act, and the weird clown's enthralling yet disturbing performance. Though what gripped his attention the most was the bird-man's act.

"Introducing, Dave." The ringleader - Karkat - said.

_Dave? Just Dave? No _Dave the Amazing Bird Boy_, or _The Mystifying Dave_? How unusual._ John shook his head free of distracting thoughts as Dave walked to the center of the ring, wearing a black tank top that time. He lifted his head and scanned the audience, before lifting his wings and zooming in a random direction. John could hardly keep up with his swift and quick movements, his flips - his overall strange, yet exciting aerobatics.

Upon landing, he let out a very loud "CAW!" and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Then it was over.

John really did not know what to think. He'd never seen such a circus, and something about it was unnerving. He mulled it over as he sat in the grass, his guard once again completely down and susceptible to sneak attacks.

Which is what Jade did, more or less.

"How'd you like it?" She asked suddenly from behind him, and of course, John had not heard her come up, so he was scared out of his whits for the third time that day.

"Oh, it's you!" He regained some colour in his paled face. "I enjoyed it very much, er, Jade," He grinned.

She brightened, though her face was impossibly bright to begin with. "You remembered my name! Thank you, good sir!" She giggled.

"Yes," he nodded, before a thought occured to him. "Could you take me to see someone?"

"Er..." She stopped to think about it. "I'm not acquainted with any of the guests, so I can't-"

"No, not a guest," now he was the one doing the interrupting, "a performer."

She shook her head slightly. "I don't know about that. Guests are generally not allowed backstage without special permission." John frowned and sighed. Jade frowned as well, unhappy with his unhappiness, before putting her hand to her cheek in a thoughtful motion. "But I suppose since you're so pretty, I could handle an acception to the rule." She smiled sweetly at him.

"Really?" John grinned, much too excited by her agreement to dwell on her comment about his physical appearance.

"Yes, John. I wouldn't just lie like that!" She tossed her head cutely.

_Yes, quite alright, now- wait, _what_? How does she know my name? Is she psychic? Can she read my mind? That's one of my biggest fears, please don't let it be true!_

His scattered thoughts must've been obvious on his face, because Jade put a hand on his shoulder and looked at him with concern. _Or maybe she read my mind._

"Are you okay?" She asked, then she smiled as a look on knowing crossed her face. "You must be wondering why I know your name, aren't you?" John nodded, and Jade giggled. "It was on your ticket, silly!"

_Oh, that makes sense. Okay. Wait, how did it get on my ticket? I never told the lady my name!_

He shook his head again and frowned in defeat. These people were scary.

"Could we just go to see him?" He sighed, getting up and trying to somehow brush off the wetness from the grass off his bum, which turned out to be an understandably fruitless effort.

"Which him? There are seven him's." She walked ahead to the tent as she talked.

John fell into step beside her. "Dave." She stopped.

"Oh, no, no. You mustn't go see him. It'd be pointless. He doesn't talk to anyone, just mutters to himself in his cage. He's the most unhappy to be here." She explained.

"Cage?" John's eyebrows knitted together. "You're keeping a human being in a _cage_?"

"Hybrid, not human." She corrected.

"Still! That's cruel and inhumane," He scolded.

"He'd fly away otherwise..." She mumbled.

"Maybe that's what's best for him." John held his head high, walking ahead if her back to the tent. She did not follow.

Rounding the tent, he found the performers taking out their and other's props, most likely to practice on outside of the circus. He saw no point in taking them out otherwise. He searched through the group of people, ducking under and dodging various items all the way, looking for Dave, until stopping on the other side of the madness. No luck.

"If you are just _so_ set on hanging around here, sweep up the fucking tent or something!" John spun to be greeted by the cheerful sight of Karkat, smiling brightly as usual and holding out a broom to him. _Heheh, sarcasm._

John accepted the broom in confusion, but before he could ask anything, Karkat was gone. John's mouth flatlined, and he went into the tent to start the dirty work. My, it was...well, it wasn't really that bad, actually. He set to work, humming lullabies and various songs he knew until the job was done. He stood up and wiped the light sweat from his brow.

"So you're the new chore boy?" Came a voice from the darkened end of the tent..

John jumped in the most uncool way imaginable, eliciting a chuckle from aforementioned voice.

"Wh-who's there!" He held up his stick like a weapon.

"The boogeyman. I've come to eat you." His voice held little emotion, John observed.

"Oh no, whatever shall I do?" John faked fear, then walked in the direction of the voice.

"Oh, that's smart. Freak out, then come toward the enemy. You must want to die, why else would you be here?" His chuckle was dry.

"What do you mean by that?" John stopped before the darkness, it being slightly easier to see when he was closer compaired to farther away.

"It just sucks here, that's about it." The strange sound informed John that the person possibly shrugged their shoulders.

"Oh." John frowned, then looked into the darkness, searching for the one he was talking to. "Have you seen Dave?"

"I've heard of Dave. Pretty cool guy, the coolest of the cool. He's so cool, you could use him as ice. Pop it in your cup of cola, keep it cold all day. Why you'd pour the cola out of the cool bottle it comes in is beyond me, though," He said. Wow, this guy liked to ramble.

"So you're Dave." John chuckled.

"In the flesh," he paused briefly, "and feathers."

"Well, I'm John." John held out his hand to shake.

"As much as I'd love to expose my hands to your grime-covered ones in an acquaint handshake, I can't." He slumped back. At least, that's what it sounded like.

"Huh? Why?" He pulled his hand back sadly.

"I don't know if you heard, but I'm not the most stationary person."

"What do you mean?" John cocked his head. Dave sighed.

"I'm in a cage, dipshit." He rattled the door for effect.

"Can't you just...reach around and open it?" John waved his arms in the motion he was implying.

"If I could reach out between the bars, then I would've shaken your hand. Besides, it's locked with a padlock." John bent down in front of the cage, finally able to see Dave almost clearly. He looked at the cage Dave was contained in with sadness.

"That's so cruel, keeping you caged up like this..." He sounded like he was close to tears, though he really wasn't, he was just very melancholic.

"Yeah, no kidding. Think about how it feels to be the one in it." He sighed again. John sat and thought for a bit, before suddenly perking up and gripping the cage bars the best he could, making Dave jump back a bit in surprise.

"I could bust you out!" He exclaimed. Dave laughed hollowly.

"Yeah, how're you gonna do that? Turn your finger into a key?" John shook his head.

"Just trust me on this."

They stared at each other for a few seconds, before Dave dropped his head and chuckled again.

"Okay."


	3. Chapter 3

Are you guys thinking this is like the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast?

'Cause it's not.

* * *

><p>"You want to <em>what<em>?" Karkat furrowed one eyebrow and raised one an inch too high, making for a very intense and ridiculous eyebrow quirk.

"I said I want to work here," John kept his head high and looked Karkat in the eyes. Karkat searched his eyes for a few seconds before shaking his head and sighing in annoyance.

"We have enough asses here. In fact, we have too many. We don't need another."

"Please," John pleaded, "I'll do whatever I can! Make food, assist people, clean, anything!"

Karkat ran a hand through his hair. "We scarcely make enough as it is. We can't afford an employee."

"I-I'll do it for free!" John mentally kicked himself for stuttering, it sounded weak. Karkat eyed him suspiciously.

"Why?"

John was slightly taken aback by the question. "Because I want the job." _Why else?_

"But why? Working for free isn't beneficial. Is there something you want from us? Something you want to _steal_ from us?" He moved closer with every sentence, forcing John backwards. John began to panic a tad.

"Just let him have the job, Karkitty! No need to be such a meanie about it!" The cat-like girl - (_Nepepa?_) - pounced Karkat from behind, startling John greatly.

"Good god, Nepeta-" (_Oh!_) "-stop doing that! You're gonna kill me someday!" Karkat forced her off of him.

"I doubt it, Mr. Angrypants! That's not pawsible." She put her hands on her hips and cocked her head, frowning at him.

"Oh, yes, it is _paw_sible. I could've died from a heart attack, and you guys would be out of a ringleader." He crossed his arms.

Nepeta's eyes flickered to John. Karkat snorted.

"Oh, hell no."

"Just ignore him, new furrend! He's just mean on the outside. He'll give you the job!" Her catlike grin lit up her already very bright features, then she scampered away to the man who looked like he could break an artery with one tap of his pinkie finger.

Karkat looked after her with distain, before turning his gaze back to him. He pointed a finger at him - his fist curled so hard, the whites of his knuckles were visible - before saying, "You win this round, pipsqueak. You get the job. But I'll be keeping an eye on you." Then with a swish of his long coat, he turned on his heel and power walked away.

John couldn't help but giggle a bit at Karkat's calling him a _pipsqueak_, seeing as the man barely reached his collar bone. He continued to smirk at that as he made his way back to the main tent.

He had to tell Dave.

_"What're you going to do to get me out, then? You're just a guest, y'know." Dave raised an eyebrow at John._

_"Then... I'll become more than just a guest!" John exclaimed happily._

_"What, you're gonna transform into a butterfly?" Dave chuckled._

_"No, those are caterpillars, Dave."_

_"You mean you're not a caterpillar?"_

_John stared at him for a bit. "Shut up. Anyway, no, I'll apply for a job here!" John was grinning._

_Dave snorted. "Oh sure, like the ringleader bitch will hire you."_

_"He will!" John frowned._

_"I bet not." Dave smirked._

_"I bet yes!"_

_"So it's a bet, then?"_

_"You're on!"_

_"Okay. If I win, you gotta smuggle in some apple juice for me. Haven't had that shit in ages."_

_John quirked an eyebrow. _What a strange request. _"Okay... Then if I win, you take me for a flight!"_

_"With what plane?"_

_"Dave." John darted his eyes towards Dave's wings._

_"Aw, fuck, dude, that ain't fair." Dave whined (_in a cool way_). "You're probably heavy."_

_"I'm not heavy!" John huffed._

_"Sure you're not. Just like George Washington didn't find America."_

_"He didn't. That was Christopher Columbus."_

_"Whatever."_

_"Yeah. Anyway, I'm going to go get myself a job." John stood up._

_"Okay. Report back to me and tell me whether you got it or not."_

_"Roger that!" And with a salute, John was gone._

John smirked at his thoughts.

Dave owed him a fun ride.

~oOo~

"I can't believe you."

"Hey, at least they let me take you out for a bit to babysit!"

"And instead of _escaping_, we're doing this."

They stood atop a large hill directly outside the circus grounds which Dave claimed was an unnecessary location (seeing as he can take off from flat land), but John stated it would simply make it more excitable. Dave rolled his eyes and agreed, if not somewhat reluctantly.

At the present moment, John was situating himself for flight, which involved putting on his coat and stretching his muscles, which had less to do with situating himself and more to do with venting his excitement. Dave hung and shook his head, chuckling in disbelief.

"Like I'd try anything with him watching us!" John quickly stole a glance over his shoulder at Karkat, who was staring at them intently, before looking back just as quickly, so he didn't notice. Which, of course, he did, but John ignored that little detail. "And even if we _did_ try flying away, someone'd shoot us down."

"Y'know, we could always take one of Gamzee's clubs, and..." Dave swung his arms in a batting motion and popped his lips, creating a strange _'puh'_ sound. John laughed slightly and shook his head.

"I couldn't do that. And you I wouldn't let you, either," he added in before Dave could get a word in.

"'Kay, whatever you say, Mr. Goody-two-shoes," Dave hopped on his feet for a while, the act appearing as a stupid looking dance. "Are you ready, yet? I'm dying to fly. Like I'm some starved British orphan licking the streets and eating snow, looking for something to satisfy his insane hunger and stealing from old women and what not."

_He's ranting again._ John huffed at him, grinning.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

"'Kay, let's do this thing." Dave nodded at John, who nodded back, before gently lifting himself off of the ground. John moved to grab his hands, but the blonde simply ignored him, circling around him and grabbing his upper arms from behind. John yelped from the sudden departure, but started hooting out of sheer enjoyment not too long after.

The flight was rather short, but thrilling nonetheless. It lasted for about five minutes before Dave complained about John's weight and they touched back down.

No sooner than they landed had Karkat come and force them back to the grounds. The taller boys pouted, but snuck grins towards each other the whole way while mocking Karkat when he wasn't looking.


End file.
